Your other favorite February holiday: Galentine’s Day

February, the season of love, brings Valentine’s day, a lot of chocolates, romantic movies and flowers. However, February also brings us another unofficial holiday celebrating best girlfriends and being single: Galentine’s Day.

This celebration, which takes place every year on Feb. 13, is described as a “single-safe holiday” by Cosmopolitan Magazine, and was originally created by the TV show “Parks and Recreation” in 2010.

In season two, episode 16 of the show, the main character, Leslie Knope, creates Galentine’s Day as an excuse to “leave our husbands and boyfriends at home and just come and kick it breakfast style.”

Of course, no holiday goes without gifts. In this episode Knope showers all of her besties with personalized and thoughtful presents to show her love and appreciation for them. Who wouldn’t want that?

Although Galentine’s Day isn’t technically a real holiday, it definitely isn’t a celebration to pass up. Galentine’s Day is all about recognizing the importance of female friendships, expressing all the different types of love, bonding over relatable experiences and appreciating all that your besties really do for you.

The main purpose of Galentine’s Day is, of course, to celebrate. However, an article from Allina Health said it can be crucial for your mental health too.

The article explains that women typically share intimate details and memories of their lives with each other that they may not in other relationships. This includes male friends and partners.

“Those experiences and the shared memories they create help you find joy and meaning in everyday life,” the article said. “All of these benefits add up to be a powerful influence on your mental health, which, in turn, affects your physical health.”

Another benefit to Galentine’s Day is it’s relevance for all girls, regardless of their relationship status.

Galentine’s Day allows single gals to party so they can celebrate without having to constantly wish they had a significant other. Gals in relationships can take a day to recognize all the different types of love they have.

Maybree Spilsbury, a sophomore at Utah State University–and huge fan of Galentine’s Day–recently created an event that includes this fictional holiday to prove that “single” doesn’t mean there’s nothing to celebrate in February.

Spilsbury was inspired to start this event when she realized none of her roommates at the time had had a date all semester.

Before the event, participants receive an “about you” questionnaire. Then Spilsbury takes the answers and pairs participants up with someone else. After that, participants show up to the event and find their “match.”

Spilsbury said the best part of the experience and hosting the event is “seeing how many people become friends after it. There were a lot of people who are still friends to this day because they met there.”

Spilsbury, along with all the other gals who choose to find unique ways to celebrate their female friendships on Feb. 13, is what has kept this unofficial holiday going for the last 11 years.

Even companies like Amazon, Hallmark and Party City recognize Galentine’s Day by selling products like signs, gift bags, cards, balloons and banners.

USA Today recently wrote an article about gifts to give to your Galentine — including a heart shaped waffle maker, face masks, books, a sunflower garden kit, candles and an InnoGear upgraded diffuser.

However you choose to celebrate your female friendships, just remember it is important to do so.

Leslie Knope said it best, “Ladies celebrate ladies.”